Irish flutist extraordinaire SIR JAMES GALWAY is one of classical music's top solo acts. His repertoire ranges from Mozart to Dolly Parton, and he recently was spotted on the soundtrack for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. In 2002, Galway enchanted New Orleanians at the world premiere of David Amram's Giants of the Night, performed with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO). Galway returns to the LPO lineup Thursday for a special St. Patrick's Day gala concert in the Mahalia Jackson Theatre for the Performing Arts (Armstrong Park, 523-6530; www.lpomusic.com). The concert will reunite Galway and Principal Guest Conductor Klauspeter Seibel, who first worked together at the Amram concert. "Klauspeter ... is an exceptionally good conductor," Galway says in a phone interview. "I was impressed with him." So much so that Galway invited Seibel to conduct the London Symphony Orchestra during the recording of Galway's latest CD, Wings of Song (DG). On the program for the event is John Corigliano's Pied Piper Fantasy, commissioned by Galway in 1981. Initially, he shopped the commission to Leonard Bernstein, but at the time Bernstein was already engaged in writing Halil. Bernstein suggested Galway ask Corigliano, whom Bernstein called "the brightest young composer around." "So I asked John, and John said no," Galway says. "And then about six months later he called me up. He said, 'Jimmy, listen. I've been thinking about this, and I have a real good idea for a flute concerto.'" The "real good idea" evolved into the Pied Piper Fantasy, a seven-movement flute concerto illustrating the fable of the Pied Piper of Hamlin, whose pipe-playing spirits away Hamlin's rodent problem. When the townspeople refuse to pay the piper for his services, the Pied Piper spirits away the village's children. For this performance, local flute students will accompany Galway in the march finale. To complete the program, the LPO will perform Edward Joseph Collins' Hibernia and Dublin-born Charles Villiers Stanford's Irish Rhapsody No. 5. Galway remains a big fan of New Orleans. "Love it, love it, love it, love it to death," he laughs. "It's great. This time I'm coming with my wife; she didn't come the last time (in 2002). I was giving her a daily report on how great it was." Tickets range from $30-$60 and can be purchased at the box office or through Ticketmaster (522-555; www.ticketmaster.com). Showtime 7:30 p.m. -- Natalie Brown

The Marian Anderson String Quartet 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 15 UNO Performing Arts Center, Recital Hall, 280-6381 The Marian Anderson String Quartet features the winners of the 1991 International Cleveland Quartet Competition, and has performed in a very impressive list of venues: the Library of Congress, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The quarter also has enjoyed residences at City College of New York and California State University-Los Angeles and is currently the ensemble-in-residence at both Texas A&M and Prairie View A&M universities. The quartet will perform 'Little Folk Suites' or String Quartet by William Grant Still, Tangos for String Quartet and Bandoneon by Astor Piazzolla with Gerardo Perez, Bandoneonista and String Quartet in C Minor Opus 51 No.1 by Johannes Brahms. Marian Henry, the group's leader, is a native New Orleanian. The guest artist is Gerardo Perez. For more information on the quartet, visit www.marianandersonstringquartet.com. Tickets range from $10-$20. -- David Lee Simmons

Art in Bloom Wednesday-Sunday, March 16-20 New Orleans Museum of Art, City Park, 488-2631 Presented by the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) and The Garden Study Club of New Orleans, Art in Bloom, now in its 18th year, returns this week to celebrate nature and the elements with the theme 'Earth, Wind and Fire,' highlighted by the NOMA exhibit 5,000 Years of Chinese Ceramics: The Robin and R. Randolph Richmond Collection. Art in Bloom encompasses several events and more than 100 exhibitors. The patron and preview party takes place Wednesday evening at NOMA and features live music, catered food and cocktails, plus an auction. Floral artists lead a lecture and workshop luncheon Thursday. On Friday, Hitomi Gilliam leads a two-hour hands-on workshop on the art of 'Ikebana with a Western Twist.' Call for ticket info. -- Frank Etheridge

The Forty-Fives, the Woggles, Immortal Lee County Killers 10 p.m. Wednesday, March 16 TwiRoPa, 1544 Tchoupitoulas St., 232-9503; www.twiropa.com If our memory serves us correctly, it was in the front bar of the then-Shim Sham Club (now One Eyes Jacks) where the cops were called on the Forty-Fives due to noise. Rather than shut down immediately, the band launched into 'I Fought the Law.' On High Life High Volume (Yep Roc), the Atlanta-based quartet continues to find the answer to life's problems in '60s blues-inflected garage rock, as does most of this show's lineup. Bad attitudes come in two flavors Wednesday night: danceable (the Woggles' 2004 EP Soul Sizzling features a cover of '60s British rhythm & blues gang the Pretty Things'; 'Buzz the Jerk') and dangerous (the grinding punk guitars and distorted vocals of the Immortal Lee County Killers). Locals Blackfire Revelation opens, having recently been signed to the Mississippi alternative-blues label Fat Possum. Tickets $11. -- Alison Fensterstock

Bach Around the Clock VIII 8 p.m. Friday until midnight Saturday, March 18-19 Trinity Episcopal Church, 1329 Jackson Ave., 670-2520; www.trinityc.net Albinas Prizgintas presents Bach Around the Clock VIII from 8 p.m. Friday through midnight Saturday at Trinity Episcopal Church. A sixth-generation Lithuanian organist, Trinity Artist Series director Albinas Prizgintas has managed to forge his own triumph over the time-space continuum with his annual music marathon, Bach Around the Clock. Now in its eighth year, the event runs for 28 hours of tightly orchestrated chaos, an exhaustive merging of music, movement and drama. With more than 300 participating local artists, this year the event covers everything from yoga and Tai-Chi to poetry readings, all working toward a theme that celebrates the collective creative genius of Bach, Shakespeare and Einstein set to music and dance. The event will showcase the cultural and artistic diversity of New Orleans, plus bridge the gap between art and science. Besides Prizgintas, featured artists include Delfeayo Marsalis, Komenka Dance Ensemble, Loyola Guitar Ensemble, New Orleans Chamber Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra members and (obviously) many, many more. Free admission. -- Etheridge

Ellis Marsalis 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. Friday, March 18 Snug Harbor, 626 Frenchmen Street, 949-0696 Ellis Marsalis' weekly performances at Snug Harbor with his beautifully balanced quartet match a standard of club jazz excellence set by the pioneers of bop at Minton's in Harlem 50 years ago. The beauty of An Evening With the Ellis Marsalis Quartet, Set 1 (ELM) is that it doesn't try to document some celebrity-studded special event, instead offering a realistic glimpse of what this group actually sounds like. Marsalis never overplays, framing melodies, setting moods and making everyone around him sound perfectly placed. His son Jason Marsalis has become a wizard of touch on the drums, moving effortlessly from nuanced groove to blazing press rolls. Veteran bassist Bill Huntingdon listens, supports, and swings like mad, while the Coltranesque Derek Douget is showcased as the main voice on tenor and soprano saxophones. Tickets $18. -- John Swenson

Los Hombres Calientes CD-release party 10 p.m. Friday, March 18 Tipitina's, 501 Napoleon Ave., 895-TIPS; www.tipitinas.com Who knows more about Carnival than New Orleanians? Local musical explorers Los Hombres Calientes, led by Irvin Mayfield on trumpet and Bill Summers on percussion, took a trip through Latin America and the Caribbean to discover the beats that drive Mardi Gras celebrations in other cities. Their new CD, Vol. 5: Carnival (Basin Street), collects the urgent rhythms of Cuba, the skipping grooves of the Congo and the frenzied drums of West Africa. With tracks featuring Kermit Ruffins, George Porter Jr., the ReBirth Brass Band and Mardi Gras Indians, the CD doesn't neglect the sounds of New Orleans. It all adds up to a party that spans three continents. Tickets $12. -- Todd A. Price

Earth Fest 2005 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, March 19-20 Audubon Zoo, 6500 Magazine St., 581-4629; www.auduboninstitute.org The attractions of the Audubon Zoo's annual Earth Fest combine for a two-day celebration that offers a quality music lineup, children's activities, interactions with zookeepers, art, regional cuisine, plus an eye toward educating visitors on the needs of, and threats to, our planet and wildlife. The main-stage music acts this year include Bill Summers & the Summer's Heat and Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen. Folk artists will man booths to sell and showcase their paintings, sculpture and more. Kids can create animal-related items out of recycled materials in the Litter Critter Tent. Free with regular zoo admission, $12 adults, $9 seniors, $7 children ages 2-12. Visitors bringing cans of leftover paint to donate to the Green Project earn one free child admission. -- Etheridge

Six Flags New Orleans season opener 10 a.m. Saturday, March 19 Six Flags New Orleans, 12301 Six Flags Pkwy., 253-8100; www.sixflags.com Six Flags New Orleans has decided that more is definitely better as it kicks off its third season in eastern New Orleans. 'More' includes a loaded entertainment schedule that features such additions as the music revues 'Welcome to the '60s,' 'Broadway My Way' and 'Pure Country,' as well as the 'Warner Bros. Kids' Club' featuring members of the popular cartoons. The park also will strive to provide more comfort as the heat kicks in with added 'greenspaces' that have benches, shade and misting machines along with food and beverages available nearby -- all in the Mardi Gras area. National touring acts scheduled to come through include Toto, Loverboy, Steppenwolf, Eddie Money and America, with plenty of local acts appearing as well. Six Flags New Orleans will be open weekends only through Memorial Day weekend. Season passes $49.99 through May 1; general admission $35.99, kids under 48 inches/senior citizens (55-older $25.99; kids 2-under admitted free. -- Simmons

Harlem Globetrotters "World of Fun" tour 7 p.m. Saturday, March 19 Kiefer UNO Lakefront Arena, 6801 Franklin Ave., 522-5555 Before there was Julius Erving, before there was Michael Jordan -- and yes, believe it or not, kids, before there was AND1 -- the Harlem Globetrotters roamed the earth as the very definition of show-boating basketball. The research is ongoing whether it was the Globetrotters that invented crossover dribble -- Bob Cousy still lays claim to the behind-the-back -- but you can bet the first time the world saw an acrobatic dunk, it was probably a Globetrotter who did it. The group that once gave us Meadowlark Lemon and Curly Neal is a frequent visitor to New Orleans and returns as it approaches its 80th anniversary. The team will once again provide its wide range of ball-handling and comedy routines, and will follow the performance with a half-hour 'meet and greet' session with fans young and not so much. Tickets range from $12-$71.50. -- Simmons

One Tree Hill Tour 8 p.m. Saturday, March 19 House of Blues, 225 Decatur St., 529-BLUE; www.hob.com The Wreckers perform as part of the One Tree Hill Tour on Saturday at House of Blues. This tour emerges from the WB television show, with Gavin DeGraw (who sings the theme song, 'I Don't Want to Be'), the Wreckers (Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp), Tyler Hilton and Bethany Jo Lenz. According to the tour's press release, it 'is a unique look at art imitating life, imitating art' because Hilton and Lenz are both musicians and actors on the show. The artists on the tour share a dramatic seriousness, as if every word sung is unlocking a secret or throwing a desperately needed lifeline. There's a grand tradition of that, though, dating back to the Ronettes, if not before. Think about how many hits were sung as if the love the singer was finding/enjoying/in danger of losing was the greatest love of all time. Tickets $22. -- Rawls

Wess Anderson 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. Saturday, March 19 Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro, 626 Frenchmen St., 949-0696; www.snugjazz.com They don't call Wess Anderson 'The Warmdaddy' for nothing. Unlike many of his peers, he has his own honey-like sound on the alto saxophone that is soulful and modern at the same time. His solo albums of the 1990s show off tunes that are serious jazz but still joyful, not bogged down by their own weight. He has also spent the last decade-plus playing in both Wynton Marsalis' septet and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, including some great solos on the Orchestra's big band version of Coltrane's spiritual masterpiece A Love Supreme. If Wynton Marsalis is trying to be Duke Ellington, Warmdaddy is his Johnny Hodges -- a compliment of the highest order. Tickets $18. -- David Kunian

Richard Johnson: New Mixed Media Work Through March 27 Cole Pratt Gallery, 3800 Magazine St., 891-6789 He's changed! Sort of. Ever slippery, Richard Johnson's brand of colorful abstract painting has sometimes been called "optical illusionism" for the flaring, brilliantly colored bits and pieces of what appeared to be scraps of billboards and neon signs collaged into a Technicolor gumbo of sensory overload. Well, the latter part still holds true, but now he's giving us a lot more recognizable stuff: sections of trees, disembodied jogging shorts still shaped by feminine flanks as they trundle through space, melting Olympian oversized engagement rings and all sorts of other weird stuff flying around his canvases like poltergeists escaped from Salvador Dali's studio. Fans of his earlier electrostatic graphics in neon rainbow colors won't be disappointed as those are still around, too. Rather than losing a style, Johnson has just gained new ways of optically confounding us. -- D. Eric Bookhardt